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[Talon]

The BR looks like a predecessor to the one we know from Halo 3. But yes, I was kinda thinking the same thing when I saw the Spartan Laser.

They'll probably explain it away by saying, "Thank God we found this cache of prototype weapons because we're Spartans."

 

[Blueblur1]

Bungie held take-home playtests last week, where tons of employees took a dev kit home for feedback and to test the net code over PartnerNet on home connections. My guess: One of the participants has a friend over to show him teh sweet new Halos. "Friend" snaps cell phone pics while he's over. And here we are.

This sounds very plausible and similar to a scenario I had envisioned last night when discussing this stuff with other GAFers on Live.

 

[Gomu Gomu]

Yes, because there's no way in hell they'll get away with going sub hd again.

Fuck HD. I want a 60 fps Halo.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Fuck HD. I want a 60 fps Halo.

Some of the early word on the engine was they wanted it running in full HD and with an emphasis on very clean image quality, the two biggest issues with Halo 3's engine.

(I've always preferred pretty and stable over 60fps, FWIW.)

 

[Hawk SE]

 

[The Librarian]

I peronsonally don't think you're trolling.

I see what you did there, and I like it!

Fuck HD. I want a 60 fps Halo.

Given a choice, I'd rather have fantastic visuals and 30 fps than muddy textures (and such) and 60 fps.

 

[Blueblur1]

Some of the early word on the engine was they wanted it running in full HD and with an emphasis on very clean image quality, the two biggest issues with Halo 3's engine.

(I've always preferred pretty and stable over 60fps, FWIW.)

I'm inclined to agree. I would prefer beautiful, impressive visuals with a solid 30 frames per second frame rate over something sub HD running at 60 frames. 60 fps is better but not when a developer has to make sacrifices.

And I gotta admit, I'm excited for this. Even though I'm a huge Halo pessisimist as of late, these pictures are exciting. Why? The possibility of finally seeing some change in my Halo! I'm not craving a complete overhaul but some bigger and more exciting changes. Something that will have a bigger impact on the gameplay than equipment did in Halo 3. I cannot wait to see more.

 

[PaNaMa]

that texture that seems to bother everyone doesn't look to be blurry or particularly bad per se, it just seems to be super stretched to cover a polygonal model that is just too big.
that's probably the main reason one would think it's a placeholder, it's just not ment to be there and used instead of having an untextured surface in the middle of the level, even if it's still wip.

I'm not one to panic or freak out over a couple of muddy cell phone snaps of a(pre?) alpha build of a couple levels. Like some, however, I was perhaps guilty of HOPING to see some things changed for Reach, and those screens - muddy as they are - don't yet depict the graphical changes I was looking for. I'm talking about style more so than resolution or even textures really.

Specifically, the trapezoid Geometrical shaped look to everything - even things that are supposed to be organic. I can't think of a better way to describe it. Those plain grey ledges and ramps that look like they were pasted in with a compass and protractor. Rocky outcroppings and mountain ledges that look like lifeless 3d geometrics shapes with level flat surfaces.

I wanted Reach to look a little more Organic, a little more real. Bungie *appears* to have chosen not to deviate from that type of art direction - and that's their prerogative. Straight lines and sterility. I'm sure the game will look WAY better than Halo 3, and way better than we can appreciate from these photos. But it doesn't look *different*. That's the only thing that kinda lets me down.

 

[PnCIa]

Some of the early word on the engine was they wanted it running in full HD and with an emphasis on very clean image quality, the two biggest issues with Halo 3's engine.

Well I think this what people want, although i hope Bungie can make it happen this time. Doubt the full HD thing though...720p would be a good start

 

[DeadGzuz]

Well I think this what people want, although i hope Bungie can make it happen this time. Doubt the full HD thing though...720p would be a good start

I'm pretty sure people are using "full HD" as >= 720P.

 

[Chinner]

yeah this was purposfully leaked because microsoft was probably like "damn nobodies on the internet gives a shit about halo reach!! lets leak it so they all feel clever" and here we are

 

[theignoramus]

What Halo needs is object based motion blur.

 

[Solo]

I'm pretty sure people are using "full HD" as >= 720P.

Then they should stop saying it if they arent talking about 1080p

 

[Skiptastic]

yeah this was purposfully leaked because microsoft was probably like "damn nobodies on the internet gives a shit about halo reach!! lets leak it so they all feel clever" and here we are

And apparently they feel Tom Morello isn't appreciated enough!

 

[Warm Machine]

Then they should stop saying it if they arent talking about 1080p

Then by that definition HDTV broadcasters are not sending out HD content since the vast majority of it is 1080i. It is commonly accepted that anything above edtv is Hd.

 

[gofreak]

Some of the early word on the engine was they wanted it running in full HD and with an emphasis on very clean image quality, the two biggest issues with Halo 3's engine.

This is a must IMO. The aesthetic was let down badly by the IQ in 3.

 

[Sean]

I don't really care about resolution or pixel count, I just want cleaner image quality. The biggest weakness of Halo 3's graphics were the jaggies from having no AA or whatever.

 

[Slightly Live]

ToM MoReLLo from MLG Forums has continued to insisted that he is the original source of the images.

He has also written up an account of the gameplay.

This first mission was just like

Spoiler

Halo 1's 2nd mission where you had to find the marines that crash landed throughout the map, but in halo reach you are finding spartans.

It's a pretty big map, and the worthog was very useful for getting places. The worthog can carry as many as 5 people (the driver, the front passenger, the gunner, and two seats below the gunner that face left and right, not forward)

The second mission was pretty action packed. You start out getting

Spoiler

dropped off, and the action immediately begins. You are with squadmates. Throughout this mission you have to cover your spartan friend (whos a girl) and give her coverage so that she can hack into the computer. There are 3 big guns on the map that she has to hack into. Hacking into them gains control of the gun, and I guess it gives them control of the air (you see banshees and hornets flying throughout the entire level)

The third stage is very similar to

Spoiler

Truth and Reconciliation (the 3rd stage on Halo 1). You and another spartan have snipers. You have to get into the enemy base from the cliffs (you start out on the cliffs). While you go in the base, your spartan friend covers you from the cliffs above. At the end of this level, you save a bunch of scientists or marines (not really sure who they are actually). They are humans who refused to leave their site even though they ordered everyone to get out. At the end of the level you save them and get picked up by a pelican.

Those were the first 3 stages. As for gameplay, everyone on those forums are talking about the perks. I guess I kinda used the wrong word. It's not really a perk, but rather a device that you can pick up. You can only carry one at a time. I found 3 different devices in the first 3 missions-Halogram, cloak, and sprint. So it's not really a perk, like you would think from call of duty. They are just devices you pick up and that have cooldowns.

The new BR is the 12 round, 1 shot with the scope. I think it's more powerfull than the burst fire BR from halo 3.

The sniper rifle has a longer delay between shots (I was upset with this).

The gameplay seem VERY similar to the other halos. It still has that "slow" feeling. The enemies also fight the exact same way, even the hunters.

The new needler carbine gun is cool. It takes three shots to make the needles explode on someone. However, if that person has a shield, you have to take out the shield before the needles can stick. So this gun can be effective if you shoot grunts and jackals, that way they explode and do more damage. You can't just shoot an elite three times, you have to bring his shield down first, then when you shoot him 3 times when he doesnt have a shield, the needles explode.

When you cloak, your radar is jammed, so you see red dots everywhere. Also, you can't hear anything going on. It's like trying to hear someone say something when you are underwater.

There is a new worthog that shoots volley missles. It seemed very overpowered, but fun. It would shoot about 4-6 shots and they explode upon contact. Then there is about a 5 second wait. Then you can shoot again (basically a 5 second cooldown for every time you can fire).

I found something really extraordinary. In the middle of mission 3,

Spoiler

you encounter a bunch of covenant fighting this big ass monster (it had tusks, it seemed like some sort of prehistoric animal)

When you see the covenant fighting the monster, you are told not to engage combat, but to just go by unnoticed. You stand and watch the covenant fighting the monster, only to see the covenant get owned.

You must understand that this game is still LOOONG from being done. People on the forums are making too early judgments, like saying the graphics were horrible. Well I played the game and the graphics were pretty bad. That's because they havn't finished it yet... In fact, they didn't even have human voice overs. When someone would talk in the game,

 

[Gui_PT]

How does picking up a device allow you to sprint?

 

[Talon]

How does picking up a device allow you to sprint?

"Thank God we invented that leg accelerator!"

 

[Lostconfused]

What Halo needs is object based motion blur.

They should just make Halo Crysis, or whatever combination of those two words sounds best. Replace the north koreans with the covenant, the random island with a random island on a halo. The special forces with some random spartan, speed/strength/shields premanently on but only cloack/shield would drain energy. Kind of silly how well it fits.

 

[Gui_PT]

"Thank God we invented that leg accelerator!"

:lol :lol

Btw Dani, maybe you should spoiler tag some of that?
I know it's not confirmed but it'd suck if we were to find out later that it's true

 

[StUnNeR H2K]

I'm amazed at the number of people arguing with the visuals... I won't get into the obvious things that a lot of people have pointed out as to why you can't dig into the visuals, but honestly who cares?

Personally I could care less about the visuals in a video game... gameplay is key to how long a game survives, not visuals. Visuals are like the action figure you had as a kid that you thought was the most bad-ass looking action figure ever, only to find out that it only twisted at the hip with no arm action or leg action... didn't make for the most fun toy to play with. It looked pretty, but other than maybe sitting on your desk, dresser or shelf it didn't serve much purpose...

It's awesome to see the advances made in visuals within video games, but so many developers have lost interest in making fun games to play and instead try to flex their visual skills in order to sale a title in hopes that consumers will be like 'hey it looks good, so it must be good!'. I'm not going to try to defend Bungie for the fact that the Halo games don't stack up visually to other AAA titles, but I like to think that they put more thought into gameplay then how pretty the game looks.

I play video games because they are fun to play, not because they look awesome. The looking awesome part is just a added bonus. The Halo games also don't look horrible either, they aren't the best but again who cares as long as the game is fun to play right?

 

[backflip10019]

Well, that would officially suck if they made a longer delay between sniper rifle shots. Bah, it would be terrible.

 

[Shake Appeal]

If Halo: Reach has a locked framerate at proper 720p with AA and some nice post-processing effects, I couldn't give a shit about polycounts and texture quality.

Even for mucky off-screen shoots of the (pre?)alpha game, there is a distinct visual improvement noticeable.

 

[SecretBonusPoint]

I genuinely thought my HDTV was hooked up incorrectly due to Halo 3's IQ. It was pretty appalling.

I think my biggest problem with Halo in terms of development is all the info flying out prior to Halo 2's release about destructable environments, a run button, a moon-based mission and how none of that ever came to be. I'm still waiting for THAT Halo experience, and I want Reach to deliver it. Instead, despite being early alpha shots, one of the environments looks like its just an empty futuristic carpark with random mountains as a backdrop. It all just looks too clean to be believable as a war rather than just action figures shooting at each other.

Reach is supposedly going to be set in the most violent and balls-to-the-wall conflict possible, a real firestorm. And I want the campaign to reflect that. In all the previous Halo's set on Earth, it never felt like you were in a proper warzone. You'd team up with 3 or 4 marines at a time and drive through the wilderness or abandoned city-blocks from target to target. Theres a part in ODST towards the end, driving across the highway when all the covenant ships start dropping in overhead and that felt better than most of Halo 3. But I want them to go further with that. I want to see one of these 'glassing' beams cut right across the playfield rather than just be shown in some zoomed out lazy artwork animation.

I'm just caught up, because I think a really fresh and invigorated new Halo could do so much with the fiction and setting, far more than what Bungie produce. As above, someone said maybe I'll have to wait for Xbox 720 and 343 to provide that, but thats a poor reflection on Bungie if they can't excel with their own property. One of my other big problems is all the extended material that surrounds a Halo game often ends up providing a better envisioning of the concept. That CGI Halo 3 trailer with the flashback to kids in a field and wide open battlefield and mortars going off, the diorama of a Brute holding up the Chief while hundreds of marines are around him are dying and struggling, the live action ODST skirmish and I daresay a few of these Halo Legends shorts will all deliver a better 'Halo' than the games themselves do.

This is a lot of outpouring words on my feelings for the Halo franchise. I find myself looking at the DUST 514 trailer to be the sort of scale I'd love to see in a Halo game.

 

[Tenden]

I'm amazed at the number of people arguing with the visuals... I won't get into the obvious things that a lot of people have pointed out as to why you can't dig into the visuals, but honestly who cares?

Personally I could care less about the visuals in a video game... gameplay is key to how long a game survives, not visuals. Visuals are like the action figure you had as a kid that you thought was the most bad-ass looking action figure ever, only to find out that it only twisted at the hip with no arm action or leg action... didn't make for the most fun toy to play with. It looked pretty, but other than maybe sitting on your desk, dresser or shelf it didn't serve much purpose...

It's awesome to see the advances made in visuals within video games, but so many developers have lost interest in making fun games to play and instead try to flex their visual skills in order to sale a title in hopes that consumers will be like 'hey it looks good, so it must be good!'. I'm not going to try to defend Bungie for the fact that the Halo games don't stack up visually to other AAA titles, but I like to think that they put more thought into gameplay then how pretty the game looks.

I play video games because they are fun to play, not because they look awesome. The looking awesome part is just a added bonus. The Halo games also don't look horrible either, they aren't the best but again who cares as long as the game is fun to play right?

Just because some elements are more important than visuals doesn't mean we can't comment on it...

 

[Slightly Live]

:lol :lol

Btw Dani, maybe you should spoiler tag some of that?
I know it's not confirmed but it'd suck if we were to find out later that it's true

Holy shit, yeah. I didn't think. It's tagged now when appropriate, ie anything discussing the missions.

 

[SimpleDesign]

I genuinely thought my HDTV was hooked up incorrectly due to Halo 3's IQ. It was pretty appalling.

Trust me you're not alone. :lol

 

[StUnNeR H2K]

Just because some elements are more important than visuals doesn't mean we can't comment on it...

I comment on visuals all the time, but don't base the success of a game on them or the potential success of a game on them. All we have of course are pictures so it's no suprise that people are commenting on the visuals, it's just more suprising that people are arguing with the quality of the visuals when the obvious is right in their face that these are pictures from someones craptastic camera phone of a game that isn't even close to being finished visually.

Visuals are important, and to some people more important than gameplay obviously... Thus why I said "Personally...", as in my views of what I look at in these pictures has nothing to do with the visuals and more to what clues can we pull from this leak to get a taste of what is to come gameplay wise. Some great points and discussion have been made on this, but visual studies are kinda pointless at this point when it comes to what the finally quality will reveal.

It's not suprised from the internet though to see trolls lurking and I guess that is what my primary angst is from. Me on my little soap box venting is all... and I'm tired for no sleep due to my hours and hours of playing Dragon Age.


In a way I'm a bit sad to see the game in this way cause for people who put all the work into making the game this has to be the worst way you would want to present all the hard work you have put into something... I know projects I work on, one the most enjoyable parts is getting to present the work you have put into it over the weeks, months or years, and to have that taken from you would suck.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Lots of stuff +

This is a lot of outpouring words on my feelings for the Halo franchise. I find myself looking at the DUST 514 trailer to be the sort of scale I'd love to see in a Halo game.

We actually share alot of the same desires for the universe, but I think the games Bungie have made have been absolutely fantastic, if not exactly what I have in my mind.
As for Dust... I saw the trailer when it was announced. Looks like a pretty but purely scripted heap. I've no interest in such a game. I've no interest in comparing the scale of a trailer with the games Bungie have already released.
I'm pretty confident Bungie have already done it better than it'll be in Dust.

 

[Blueblur1]

HaloGAF delivering in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

 

[Slightly Live]

BTW, ToM MoReLLo has provided more new information.

these pics are VERY recent. As in taken this week recent. and no bungie employees have it at home as I heard someone post if anyone wanted to play you have to play here. I played on November 1st...

I'm almost convinced this guy is 100% legit and is not lying.

New picture to confirm.

 

[FunkyPajamas]

One of my other big problems is all the extended material that surrounds a Halo game often ends up providing a better envisioning of the concept. That CGI Halo 3 trailer with the flashback to kids in a field and wide open battlefield and mortars going off, the diorama of a Brute holding up the Chief while hundreds of marines are around him are dying and struggling, the live action ODST skirmish and I daresay a few of these Halo Legends shorts will all deliver a better 'Halo' than the games themselves do.

Wholeheartedly agree, I've had more fun reading the books (the good ones at least: Fall of Reach, First Strike and Ghosts of Onyx) and watching the commercials than playing the games (except for Halo 1 and ODST which are top in my list).

I would love for Reach to go back to a "darker" Halo 1, when even grunts felt menacing. I don't need the chief to curse or anything (I have the online game for that), but I want to feel like I'm in constant danger and not just fighting against brightly colored puppets that scream like kids when shot.

 

[Woodsy]

:lol

I know what the Tom Morello meme is, but where did it originate?

EDIT: nvm - found it.

 

[CrazedArabMan]

Did I read correctly...

Elites...

jumps for joy, finally.

 

[clashfan]

:lol

I know what the Tom Morello meme is, but where did it originate?

EDIT: nvm - found it.

Where did it originate?

 

[op_ivy]

You must understand that this game is still LOOONG from being done. People on the forums are making too early judgments, like saying the graphics were horrible. Well I played the game and the graphics were pretty bad. That's because they havn't finished it yet... In fact, they didn't even have human voice overs. When someone would talk in the game,

...
where is the rest!?

i cant wait to see our first real glimpse of this game

 

[Gui_PT]

DUST 514 trailer

Do Want

 

[Slightly Live]

...
where is the rest!?

i cant wait to see our first real glimpse of this game

Grammatical error maybe, it's the full quote.

 

[Sean]

New picture to confirm.

http://i36.tinypic.com/mkhvlu.jpg

This guy is a genius.

"Hey let me leak some pics, then I'll post my gaming setup for the world to see. Cause it's not like Bungie or Microsoft are interested in tracing this leak.."

 

[Gui_PT]

This guy is a genius.

"Hey let me leak some pics, then I'll post my gaming setup for the world to see. Cause it's not like Bungie or Microsoft are interested in tracing this leak.."

They usually are :lol

 

[LunaticPuma]

This guy is a genius.

"Hey let me leak some pics, then I'll post my gaming setup for the world to see. Cause it's not like Bungie or Microsoft are interested in tracing this leak.."

You do realize he's not playing it at home, right? It's probably some xbox/computer lab full of identical set-ups.

 

[Kuroyume]

I like the new look of the BR.

It's hard to gauge how good the graphics are from off screen images. I recall people on GAF years ago claiming that the leaked off screen footage of Halo 3's Last Resort looked as good as Crysis. :lol Anyway, at least it seems like they're paying attention to the gun models which is good. That was a huge problem with Halo 3. The guns looked awful. They probably kept them that way so there was consistency with the look of the rest of the game, but they should have made them look better considering they're always on screen. The things I don't like seeing in these images are the return of weapons like the Spartan Laser. Many of the weapons and the deployable items in Halo 3 only existed because the vehicles in the game were ridiculously strong. People could toss 14 grenades at a vehicle and it would still keep moving and mowing people down. That's one of the worst things in Halo 3. I fucking hate the Warthog in that game. Those things need to be weakened significantly both in damage output and how much it can take.

The new BR and Carbine look good. Halo needs more weapons like that. I hate to see the AR in there again. Any fucking gun that can't deal damage more than five feet in front of a player and usually requires a melee attack to finish someone off is a total piece of crap. It really has no place in the Halo sandbox contrary to what people say. The maps in Halo 3 were fairly big and to spawn someone with an AR against someone with a BR, Sniper, Spartan Laser, Carbine, or Needler from a mile away was bullshit. Fuck that weapon.

 

[LunaticPuma]

The things I don't like seeing in these images are the return of weapons like the Spartan Laser. Many of the weapons and the deployable items in Halo 3 only existed because the vehicles in the game were ridiculously strong. People could toss 14 grenades at a vehicle and it would still keep moving and mowing people down. That's one of the worst things in Halo 3. I fucking hate the Warthog in that game. Those things need to be weakened significantly both in damage output and how much it can take.

Completely disagree with you here. If the vehicles aren't powerful/durable, then they lose almost all of their value. It's all about resource management which is a large part of Halo's strategy and fun.

 

[gofreak]

I'm amazed at the number of people arguing with the visuals... I won't get into the obvious things that a lot of people have pointed out as to why you can't dig into the visuals, but honestly who cares?

Personally I could care less about the visuals in a video game... gameplay is key to how long a game survives, not visuals. Visuals are like the action figure you had as a kid that you thought was the most bad-ass looking action figure ever, only to find out that it only twisted at the hip with no arm action or leg action... didn't make for the most fun toy to play with. It looked pretty, but other than maybe sitting on your desk, dresser or shelf it didn't serve much purpose...

It's awesome to see the advances made in visuals within video games, but so many developers have lost interest in making fun games to play and instead try to flex their visual skills in order to sale a title in hopes that consumers will be like 'hey it looks good, so it must be good!'. I'm not going to try to defend Bungie for the fact that the Halo games don't stack up visually to other AAA titles, but I like to think that they put more thought into gameplay then how pretty the game looks.

I play video games because they are fun to play, not because they look awesome. The looking awesome part is just a added bonus. The Halo games also don't look horrible either, they aren't the best but again who cares as long as the game is fun to play right?

I totally agree that there's really nothing to judge here wrt the game's visuals. You can't say much on that front from shots like this (ridiculously early and ridiculously bad quality).

But just on the point about graphics..it's not an either/or thing. Either great graphics OR great gameplay. It's not a trade-off. You can have both. And I don't see anything wrong with wanting both from Bungie, a well funded and resourced 'triple A' single-platform dev.

I do get the feeling they took criticism over Halo3's A/V qualities to heart though and that they'll go a bit more all out for Reach, I'd be fairly confident of that.

 

[FunkyPajamas]

I fucking hate the Warthog in that game. Those things need to be weakened significantly both in damage output and how much it can take.

Whoa, completely (and respectfully) disagree with you here. I can't speak for multiplayer (rarely played it, to be completely honest, I'm more interested in the single player campaign/story -odd as it may seem); but for single player the vehicles slowed down when shot (at least with covenant weaponry), and flipped over way too easily (I'm comparing the vehicle handling in H3 vs. H1). I don't know if making the vehicles indestructible again (Halo 1) is the answer, but definitely making them even more fragile/light is not something I'd like to see. I don't think Bungie will listen to me of all people, but just wanted to let you know I don't consider the vehicles in Halo games to be overpowered or unstoppable or anything like that.

 

[wRATH2x]

Should I expect Rage Against The Machine's greatest hits to be the soundtrack?

Tom Morello

 

[Solo]

Then by that definition HDTV broadcasters are not sending out HD content since the vast majority of it is 1080i. It is commonly accepted that anything above edtv is Hd.

Er. yo do realize we're talking about two different things here, right? You for some reason thought I said that they shouldnt call it HD. That is not what I said, and I agree that 720p and 1080i ARE HD resolutions. No, what I said was in response to a quote calling 720p FULL HD, which is false. Full HD is 1080p.

 

[Dead Man Typing]

Still can't believe we didn't get to fight Elites in ODST... good to hear they're back for Reach.